Mortality and Morbidity Rate among ECT Patients; A Report from an Academic Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Electroshock therapy is an effective treatment method for patients who are resistant to drug treatment or need an emergence response. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the mortality rate and complications caused by electroshock therapy in an academic hospital in Rasht. Method: In this retrospective descriptive study, the files of 23 patients who had complications from electroshock therapy in Rasht's Shafa Hospital between 2016 and 2021 were examined. Demographic information, cause of death and all complications that occurred from the time patient was admission to the time of discharge from the recovery ward were recorded. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 software and were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency, mean and standard deviation. Results: In this 5-year study, 24 patients had complications under electroshock therapy (0.15%) such as bradycardia, hypotension, and vomiting; also one case of mortality was recorded (0.006%). Of the complications, 19 cases (79.2%) were minor and 5 cases (20.8%) were major, and the highest rate of complications was in patients diagnosed with psychosis 8 cases (33.3%) and schizophrenia 5 cases (20.8%). There was no statistically significant relationship between gender, underlying disease and age with the occurrence of complications. Conclusion: Considering the very low percentage of mortality and morbidity in this center, the interaction between the psychiatry and anesthesia group is appropriate and the care and monitoring of electroshock patients is acceptable. However, it is necessary to try to minimize these cases as much as possible

Keywords

• mortality
• morbidity